Criminal Justice

Question 1:

Cesare Lombroso's theory explains criminals based on observation and physical features. For example, the "born criminal" theory explains that criminals charged with theft can be identified through their expressive faces and wandering eyes (Campa, 2020). Therefore, a study on criminal behavior would be more beneficial to a criminal case than any other study, according to him. Jeremy Bentham states that crimes are unrelated and not similar and should therefore be judged individually (Schofield, 2019). From his theory, many criminologists argue that legal systems view this as a suggestion to inflict more pain and longer sentences on criminals. This theory places great importance on the law, which should protect individual citizens and itself before making any decisions about treating criminals. Cesare Beccaria argues that people can make choices that determine whether or not they commit an offense. In his theory, he explains that until an offender's crime has been established to know if they're guilty, no legal punishment should be taken against them (Schofield, 2019).

Viewing the three theories explaining criminology, I believe Cesare Beccaria’s theory has a better view of explaining criminal behavior. I believe that Lombroso's theory, though well-developed, doesn't include the possibility of criminal history resulting from people's choices. People's actions ultimately result from their choices. According to their desire for joy, pleasure, and ultimate satisfaction, people choose to engage in crime, as explained by Beccaria. Jeremy Bentham’s theory, which seems to agree with Beccaria’s, also explains how individual crimes can only be judged and studied individually. A person's behavior is uncorrelated to another person's biological relatives. The explanations of the two criminologists differ from Lombroso’s theory and are more beneficial today in deciphering and judging crime.

Question 2:

William Chambliss argues the disproportionate arrests of African-Americans compared to American citizens. In his book, he discussed how the crimes of black people are easily identifiable compared to middle-class white people influencing the number of arrests recorded for both groups (Felson & Krajewski, 2020). He aimed to educate people about the law, its enforcers, and the people it benefits, giving perspective on those who do not benefit from it. Oliver Wendell Holmes suggests that the power to make and execute laws should belong to the society within which those laws are enforced (Hines, 2019). In his theory, he states that legislative responsibility belongs to legislative bodies, not courts. Therefore, people can make laws through the representatives they choose, whether these laws are good or bad. Felix Frankfurter’s theory is similar to Oliver Wendell’s. He argued that the role of protecting a state’s or country’s citizens belongs to the legislative body selected by the citizens (Hockett, 1992). Therefore, to promote democracy, the legislative body should protect its citizens, a decision that the court should respect.

All three points of view seem to correlate. From William's theory, it's clear that there's a present law enacted by the court and other legislators that only protects the white people since their arrest cases are lesser than arrest cases of African-Americans. As such, people must choose leaders who make decisions that protect their citizens. Oliver's and Frankfurter's theories indirectly support this notion by recommending that the court back off on protecting citizens, a role the legislative body should take up. Therefore, I support the latter theories that allow citizens to be ultimate lawmakers and enforcers, limiting the racial bias the court might have. However, the concern becomes the ability of citizens to make good decisions that do not harm fellow citizens. A situation that allows its citizens to make valid laws protecting fellow citizens and the law itself through its leaders would be ideal.

Question 3:

William Westley conducted a study on municipal police, concluding that violence by police officers is derived from the power the law has given them. In his study, police officers have occupational experience from working days and have groups within which their roles are defined ("Violence and the Police | American Journal of Sociology: Vol 59, No 1", 2017). The experience they have and the teams they work within influence their illegal use of power and arms. Fogelson’s discussion was based on management policies and their influence on policing behaviors. Particularly, management focuses on leadership development for law enforcers who will work for the government bodies in institutions such as correctional facilities. Therefore, policing behaviors are not defined by their power but by the leadership development programs undertaken. According to Goldstein's research, some police officers are expected to generate revenues for their service departments (Goldstein et al., 2018). Their actions are, therefore, not driven by their constitutional responsibility to protect citizens but rather the desire to generate higher municipal revenues. Their responsibilities include collecting fees, fines, and assets the citizens have forfeited (Goldstein et al., 2018). The actions are therefore determined by their responsibility, meaning they can charge fines and fees unfairly since they only intend to make more revenues.

In my view, the managerial level in policing is most important in explaining police behavior and would be central to improving their actions and commitment to protecting citizens. William's study focuses on the power delegated to police officers and their teams which influences their behavior, while Goldstein focuses on behavior resulting from the desire to make revenue. By empowering the management within the police force, a state and nation can control the amount of power that police officers have and improve group sanctions' supervision to reduce the chances of misuse of power. Additionally, management would ensure that municipal-level revenue collection is done freely and fairly, reducing police officers' misuse of power and ensuring that fines and fees are collected without coercion, blackmail, and power misuse.

Question 4:

For citizens to live in a peaceful environment, laws are enforced to ensure good conduct is maintained, against which there is punishment. Prisons are meant to be correctional facilities, ensuring that society is safe from criminals and acting as a rehabilitation center for offenders with underlying issues such as drug addictions and mental disorders that formerly influenced their decisions. In my opinion, punishment is only enough for reversible crimes or offenses that are not severe and can easily be corrected. For instance, theft of small amounts of money may be corrected by repayment and may not affect a victim as much as murder. In such situations, justice is served under the law, but an imbalance has already been created when an offender commits murder, which is irreversible. I believe that prisons act as correctional facilities since they offer programs that help offenders be better people before they're back in society but do not offer any form of relief or justice to those affected by crimes committed in society.

References

Campa, R. (2020). The criticism of phrenology as a prelude to the foundation of criminal sociology: on the theoretical contribution of Napoleone Colajanni. Heliopolis, 18(2). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-021-09604-x.

Felson, R. B., & Krajewski, A. T. (2020). Did mass incarceration lead to the unnecessary admission of minorities and marginal offenders? Criminology & Public Policy, 19(4), 1209-1229. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12521.

Goldstein, R., Sances, M., & You, H. (2018). Exploitative Revenues, Law Enforcement, and the Quality of Government Service. Urban Affairs Review, 56(1), 5-31. https://doi.org.10.1177/1078087418791775.

Hines, A. H. (2019). Ralph Waldo Emerson and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.: The Subtle Rapture of Postponed Power. J. Sup. Ct. Hist., 44, 39. https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/jspcth44&section=8.   

Hockett, J. (1992). Justices Frankfurter and Black: Social Theory and Constitutional Interpretation. Political Science Quarterly, 107(3), 479. https://doi.org/10.2307/2152441.

Schofield, P. (2019). «The first steps rightly directed in the track of legislation»: Jeremy Bentham on Cesare Beccaria’s Essay on Crimes and Punishments. Diciottesimo Secolo, 4, 65-74. https://doi.org/10.13128/ds-25439.

Violence and the Police | American Journal of Sociology: Vol 59, No 1. (2017). Retrieved 18 August 2022, from https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/221264.